The Real Housewives of Orange County star Brooks Ayers has faced questioning all season long, but he tells ET he does have cancer.
The Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson’s ex Brooks Ayers has faced criticism and doubt all season long about his health. Now, he's speaking exclusively to ET about claims he’s been faking his cancer.
"I have cancer," Ayers told ET on Monday.
According to Ayers, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of blood cancer, and will be back in the Los Angeles area at the beginning of October for another round of treatments. But this hasn’t stopped the other RHOC cast members from accusing him of faking his illness.
"I think they do it to create drama -- manufactured drama and that's sad to me," said Ayers, who insists that his diagnosis is real. "I've distanced myself in a lot of ways from it. It's useless drama that brings on stress that quite frankly no one needs and in particular my situation. I'm not running from anything."
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ET has spoken to many of the Housewives throughout the season and they weighed in on the big controversy.
"There's a lot of questions that come up," Meghan King Edmonds said earlier this year. "I'm not the only one [who] has questions about it ... I have major, major questions."
“I think that the entire situation will definitely be tried by the court of public opinion, and things come out that are so bizarre,” Heather Dubrow said in July.
Ayers says that just because he has cancer doesn't mean that he should be "lying around in a hospice bed," and he is not letting any negativity get him down. He says he's seen improvements in his health lately.
The reality star is reportedly being treated by his oncologist and he told ET that since he's started taking supplements and doing IV therapy that his "numbers were normalized."
"My lesion, my inflammations were gone. Gone!" Ayers said. "So I'm encouraged."
ET has reached out to Bravo for comment.
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Mondays on Bravo.
Additional reporting by Brendon Geoffrion